Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The Control of a Soldier: The Enemies Tactics do not Surprise Us

Scripture:
Philippians 1:28

in no
way alarmed by your opponents-- which is a sign of destruction for them,
but of salvation for you, and that too, from God.

Insights: Paul starts this verse off by telling
us to not be alarmed by the attacks of our opponents. It is vital at this point to remind us that “our
struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realm (Ephesians 6:12).” Our opponents or enemies are in fact Satan
and his minions. There are many tactics
he uses, but I will only mention a few. First,
Satan desires to rob believers of their faith.
This theft is what verse twenty-seven was all about: defend the
faith. We need to defend the faith
because Satan is going to attack ours.
Warren Wiersbe writes, “What we believe determines how we behave, and
wrong belief ultimately means a wrong life.”
Second, Satan attacks young people.
Every local church is only one generation short of potential
extinction. If Satan can trip up teenagers
and young adults from their faith, he can potentially cripple the church. Satan has a lot of tools at his disposal
regarding young people in the twenty-first century. Third, Satan uses the all too familiar divide-and-conquer
technique within the church. Even in
this letter, whose theme is joy, there are two ladies who are feuding. As a result, the church is taking up sides
and division is starting to creep into the church. This division is one of the reasons Paul
wrote this letter. He desires to stop
the fight before it gets out of hand.
Earlier this week I mentioned that Paul wrote sixteen times in this
short letter about unity in the body of Christ.
This one tactic of Satan has destroyed far too many churches in
history. With all three of these
examples, however, we ought not to be surprised. These are part of Satan’s arsenal and we must
stand firm and strive together for the defense of the faith. One last thing regarding this verse, our
salvation from God is a sign of Satan’s destruction. In other words, because we are born again, we
are living testimonies of Christ Jesus’ victorious work on the cross of
Calvary. Satan is defeated and we are
symbols of his loss and eternal destruction.
Beloved, praise the Lord and let your life be filled with joy because
you have been redeemed by our gracious Savior, Jesus Christ!

Questions:

Have you recently been caught off guard by the tactics
of the enemy?

Are you born again; and thus, serving as a sign of
destruction for Satan and his minions?

Prayer: Father, protect
me from the enemy’s tactics. Keep me
grounded in my faith and steadfastly fixed on You. Let my life in Christ serve as a sign of
Satan’s demise and bring glory to You my Savior. Amen.